Cracow Journal; A McDonald's? Not in Their Medieval Square

By JANE PERLEZ,

Published: May 23, 1994

CRACOW, Poland—
The esthetic guardians of this gloriously intact medieval city, the home of Karol Cardinal Wojtyla before he became Pope John Paul II, are determined that their main market square, with its domes and statues and ancient town houses, will not go the way of some of Europe's other landmarks, like the Champs-Elysees, the center of Stuttgart, the heart of Bologna.

Fired by centuries of city pride that glows ever more fiercely since the collapse of Communism, Cracow is saying no to McDonald's in the square, known as Rynek Glowny.

"You don't put a jukebox in a salon," said Stanislaw Juchnowicz, a professor of architecture and one of the city's most passionate defenders. "We consider our marketplace our salon."

Rebuffing McDonald's is hardly unknown in preservation-conscious communities in the West. But here in Cracow, a place of contemplative rhythms that echo from the Jagiellonian University and the city's religious and royal antecedents, the rebellion against the fast-food chain carries a special meaning. The fight is not so much about a particular building, although that is part of it, but about fending off what many here see as the cult of prosperity.

Badly abused by the Communist Government, which built a polluting steelworks nearby that scarred priceless statues and architecture, the city is now working hard to clean up its air, water and art. Many Cracovians say they do not want what they call another kind of outside vulgarity and will use their new-found democratic means to stop it.

"The activities of this firm are symbolic of mass industrial civilization and a superficial cosmopolitan way of life," declared Mr. Juchnowicz, who is also the chairman of the Polish Ecological Club. "Many historic events happened in this place, and McDonald's would be the beginning of the cultural degradation of this most precious urban area."

McDonald's, which has 13 restaurants in Poland, says Cracow is being unfair. The company points out that it already has one outlet in the city and went to great lengths to insure that the restaurant melded with the facades of Florianska Street, the old Royal Way, where it was built. The red and yellow logos are indeed discreet, no bigger than any of the myriad new commercial signs on the street.

"We have proven that McDonald's can fit in," said Timothy Fenton, the managing director of McDonald's Poland. "We took a 14th-century building that was devastated and restored it to its natural beauty."

The dispute is over the company's plans to open a restaurant in a faded but elegant building with 15th-century foundations. To temper emotions, McDonald's agreed to put its entrance on the side street and offered to sublet the front space to a bookstore so that pedestrians on the square would see books, not hamburgers.

But there is firm resistance from the city conservator, Andrzej Gaczol, a 46-year-old architect. He has twice rejected McDonald's request, most recently on April 14.

"In every version they have shown me, their plans impinge on the structure of the building," Mr. Gaczol said. "I told them if they changed their plans and limited it to a coffeehouse, we would probably have no objection."

Mr. Gaczol, who rules on the admissibility of changes to the city's buildings according to provisions of a national law protecting monuments and art, insists that his decision was made on narrow, not cultural, grounds. Because McDonald's wanted to cover a large courtyard to create a new floor and provide shelter for patrons, its plans altered the building structure, he said.

The building was once the town house of Polish beer scions. During the Nazi occupation, it was the headquarters of the German military. It is now owned by a former Communist trading cooperative. Because the Germans renovated the building, Mr. Gaczol said, it is in better structural shape than many others in the city.

"McDonald's exaggerates the contribution it makes to renovations," he said, dismissing the company's argument that it was helping the city by doing up the building. "On Florianska Street, where they have their restaurant, the city did the heavy structural work of renewing the foundations and the roof."

If McDonald's really wants to contribute to the restoration of Cracow, Mr. Gaczol said, it should consider a more rundown property near the railway station, which he described as better for business anyway. But he said McDonald's appeared to be interested in the prestige of Cracow's architectural soul.

The company still has another chance of appeal, this time to national officials in Warsaw, the capital.

To keep up the pressure, Mr. Juchnowicz, the architecture professor, has organized an open letter of protest. And, referring to a former Cracovian and an outspoken critic of modern architecture, he says he has at least two more weapons up his sleeve.

"I'm holding the Pope and Prince Charles in reserve," he said.

Photo: McDonald's wants to open a restaurant in a building in Cracow's main market square, but it is meeting resistance from residents. The building, right, has 15th-century foundations. (Matthew Brzezinski for The New York Times) Map of Cracow showing the location of Rynex Glowny Sq.